The present invention relates to an IV drug delivery apparatus and pertains particularly to an improved IV site flush system.
Because of the high cost of administering health care in this country, many patients administer their own intravenous therapy (IV) at home. Many times, such therapy requires the periodic infusion of one or more therapeutic fluids, such as an antibiotic. The patient is usually equipped with an IV tubing set, typically called an IV infusion site or IV site when installed. The IV site typically consists of a needle or catheter inserted into a vein of the patient by trained medical personnel and attached to a tubing set which is strapped or taped to the patient to enable easy attachment of an infuser device. The tubing set is equipped with an injection port or cap into which a needle is inserted to administer or infuse the therapeutic fluid. It may also have other forms of coupling, such as a luer lock coupling.
Between infusions, blood may coagulate and clog the IV needle and/or tubing. In order to overcome this problem, an anticoagulant such as heparin is introduced into the IV site after an infusion. A preferred procedure is to flush the IV site with a saline solution before and after the infusion, and fill or flush the IV site with heparin after the second saline flush.
Currently in the health care industry, IV sites are flushed with a saline solution before infusion and after the infusion is complete. A heparin solution is then injected into the site to prevent coagulation between infusion periods. This is carried out by means of a separate syringe and hypodermic needle for each saline flush. The catheter and needle area of the vein are then filled with the heparin by means of another syringe after the infusion and second saline flush.
This procedure is carried out with at least three syringes, three 25G needles, and vials of saline and heparin. The patient or nurse draws fluid into the syringe and pierces the injection port of the IV site to inject for each stage of the procedure. The IV site is pierced first for saline, second for the IV therapy, third for saline and fourth for heparin. This requires the use and disposal of at least three syringes and four needles with each treatment, and increases the risk of mistake or contamination due to the many open instruments and connections.
The present invention provides a closed system wherein the syringes and multiple needles are eliminated, and the IV site is pierced only once for each treatment.